William Davis Taylor, a descendant of early New Hampshire settlers, was born in Boston on April 2nd, 1908. His association with Noble and Greenough School began on a September day little more than seven years later when he enrolled in the E class (first grade) in the Primary Department at 100 Beacon Street under Miss Fiske. From that day to this Mr. Taylor's interest in the School has been unflagging.

Although Mr. Taylor was not the editor of The Nobleman, his first job, after graduating from Harvard in 1931, was with The Boston Globe. That newspaper has been his life's work. He began as a junior accountant, worked in virtually every department of the paper; and was elected President and Publisher in 1955. Since 1963, he has been the Chairman of the Board and Publisher.

In January, 1974, Time Magazine picked The Boston Globe as one of the ten best of the 1,760 daily newspapers in the United States, stating that "the Globe is one of the most improve newspapers during the past decade." The improvement actually began as far back as 1958, when under Mr. Taylor's direction, the Globe was moved from downtown Boston to its large modem plant of Morrisey Boulevard in Dorchester. Since then the paper has been a vigorous force. in Boston and its suburbs against "incompetence, injustice, and corruption," campaigning relentlessly for social and political reform. As a result, the paper has received innumerable rewards in every field of newspaper publishing. In 1965, and again in 1971, the Globe was awarded journalism's highest

honor, the Pulitzer Prize. In his professional field, Mr. Taylor has served on the Board of-the Metropolitan Sunday Newspapers, and of Million Market Newspapers, Inc. He has served as Chairman of the National Committee for the Nieman Fellows, and has headed the nationwide campaign to match the Ford Foundations contribution to the Nieman Fellowship at Harvard.

Mr. Taylor is currently serving as Chairman and Director of the American Newspapers Publishers Asso ciation.

In other fields Mr. Taylor is a member of the Board of Overseers at Harvard College, and a director of the Boys Club in Boston, the American Cancer Society, the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

In 1964, Mr. Taylor succeeded John Richardson as President of the Nobles Trustees . His seven-year term in office saw wise and cheerful direction of the School's planning for increased enrollment, the decision to accept girls, the expansion of the plant, the improvement of the organizational structure of the School's governing body, and the selection of the School's fourth Headmaster, Edward S. Gleason.

Nobles and Greenough's pride in William Davis Taylor takes many forms. As an undergraduate at Nobles, he was twice awarded one of our most coveted trophies, the ''.School Spirit Cup," now known as the "Nobles Cup." The present Distinguished Graduate Award reaffirms his continuing spirit of interest, dedication and devotion to many institutions that address themselves to the betterment of mankind.